Help needed: your experiences of the internet and JWism

by ppunk 10 Replies latest jw experiences

  • ppunk
    ppunk

    Hi all, I am hoping some of you will find a few moments of time to reply to this request for help. I am researching the impact of the internet on people's journey out of JWism. I invite everyone to write anything from a sentence to a couple of paragraphs (or more, if desired) relating how the internet has affected your exit. Consider if you were still a JW when you first encountered ex-JW sites or information and this helped your leaving, or if you had exited and have used the internet to find more information about JWs or if you have ever used the exJW boards (such as this one) to gain support in your experiences, make social contacts etc. I am writing an essay and will use relevant quotes and provide links to your posts. I can include your real name if you wish me too, or just a screen name. If you would like your experiences included but don't wish to be identified in any way, I will be happy to accept a PM of your experiences with a request for anonymity. I don't need a reason, just the request. The essay I am writing will be converted to a webpage format, and I will consider hosting it when it is done (if I can figure out how). Many thanks in advance! ppunkgoddess

  • noni1974
    noni1974

    Hi Ppunky fancy meeting you here.

    Sites like this have effected me by letting me know I'm not alone out in the big wide world and I'm not crazy for leaving.I've found acceptance and understanding when I least expected it.I've found support when I needed it.I've made friends with people I would have never met.Most of all I don't have to explain my situation to the people on these boards because the people on them know exactly what it was like.

    I didn't have to deprogram because I've been out far longer than I've been on these boards but I can see how it would help the newly exiting to open their eyes.

  • Vinny
    Vinny
  • yknot
    yknot

    I am not alone.

    I am not the only one.

    This is not all in my head.

    I am not weak.

    This is not just a local problem.

    This pretty much sums up my story, where it counts the most!

    Yknot

  • Honesty
    Honesty

    The Watchtower Society warns JW's to stay away from the internet.

    Now I know why.

  • jwfacts
    jwfacts

    I spent many years thinking something was wrong but not knowing what. I finally decided to do research and used the internet, though not "apostate" sites but general knowledge ones. The first thing I researched was earthquakes, and found from earthquake related sites that there is no increase in the number of earthquakes. (See http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/earthquakes.htm) This totally shattered my faith in the Watchtower Society, as the one thing that convinced me more than any other was that there are more earthquakes since 1914. To find the Watchtower blatantly lies about this made me have to research further.

    It was after this that I started to stumble across ex JW sites and other religious sites. After 10 years of doubt and depression about being a JW, within 3 months I knew why Watchtower doctrine is wrong, how similar it is to many of the religions JWs condemn and that there are hundreds of thousands of exJWs going through exactly what I went through. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders.

  • monophonic
    monophonic

    the internet did nothing in affecting my decision for leaving. the horrid treatment of myself and others (when i was an 'a-ok' jw), finally clicked after i had been in about 8 congregations in my life and 5 of them were horrid, judgemental and didn't feel christian at all and three of them seemed like they were trying hard and weren't meddling every time someone made a fart at a meeting.

    i left for good, faded out, with a feeling....not reading anything 'apostate' or on the internet. four years after fading out i read COC, then stepped up the research further on the internet.

    so, it just took the congregations being themselves and treating people like dirt who deserved to be treated better....even when i was an MS i'd try to be friends with wits who the elders would ignore b/c they saw them as bad seeds and i couldn't understand why.....a older sister told me later that the only reason her son continued to come to meetings was because i didn't judge him and i was nice to him and didn't trip that he had long hair. i was 19 at the time and he was 15.

    i really hope he didn't get sucked in b/c of me, but i thought i was doing the right thing at the time.

    anyway, at 20 i faded, got sucked into a love study and lots of family trauma happened, so i was back 'in' at 22, then started fading again at 24.

  • freeme
    freeme

    the internet gives exactly what i dont have in normal life.

    - im not alone with my thoughts.
    - im not dumb not to "see" its the one and only truth
    - im not evil, to question so-called "truths". its NOT bad to question things at all. its bad to question one side and be forbidden to question the other.
    - ive seen and could investigate into things i would've never seen in the isolated JW world.
    - i didnt go crazy.
    - i didnt commit suicide... (i really felt like doing it before i used the net. and i was in good standing, commited no d/fing sins or whatever. i just knew its not the truth but i felt stuck in it and guilty)

  • *summer*
    *summer*

    My experience is nothing compared to most people here. In my case, I only have a weekly book study with the JWs and I attend the weekly book study as well. I have never been to the KH so far. Needless to say, I am not baptised.

    My study conductor always encouraged me to voice my doubts. But it did not take long to realise that my doubts were always answered via JW litterature or their famous CD library. It did not sit well with me. And when I was subtly approached with suggestions of baptism, I figured that such a life changing step needed more "independant" research. And I ended up on the internet. I mentioned my internet researches to my study conducter and I could tell she was not pleased. And I thought "Listen, this is a most important step I am about to take here...and I will do my search as I see fit!"

    In a nutshell...I can now honestly say the internet saved my life. Because I was just about ripe to take a terrible step on a very wrong path:-(

  • LongHairGal
    LongHairGal

    Hi ppunk!

    Most of what I learned I already suspected and was not surprised, just angry.

    LHG

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